Earth
Earth, also known as Sol III, Terra, and known in the Forerunner era as "Erde-Tyrene" (pronounced "Er-dae-ty-reen") or "Erda", is the homeworld of the human species. It is also the collective homeworld of the diverse genus of species collectively called ''human''. It was thus the origin of the Isu, Pak, Florians, Neanderthal, Denisovan, and various other species of human. Geography From space, the planet Earth, the third planet in the Sol system, appeared as a blue-green orb enveloped in a white web of clouds. Its surface had vast bodies of water and several large continents of varying climates. There were two polar ice caps at either end of the planet. Earth possessed seven continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, North America, South America, and Antarctica. These continents were separated by four massive oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic. Earth possessed a large amount of native flora and fauna, many of which were taken onto other worlds during the Isu's initial expansion into the Milky Way. Once there, these species would further evolve into entirely different species. Later on into its history, cities also grew to become a dominant environment on the planet. Earth's cities widely varied in appearance, with most reflecting the natural climate they were constructed in: in general, port cities with access to bodies of water were larger than inland cities. History Prehistory Earth first formed around 4,600,000,000 BCE, and gave rise to the first single-celled organisms around 3,900,000,000 BCE. The planet, like many others which evolved intelligence across the galaxy, was seeded by the Progenitors, thus giving rise to the eventual humanoid body plan present in human beings. During an era called the Mesozoic, Earth was home to a diverse group of reptiles known as dinosaurs. These dinosaurs eventually receded due to a catastrophic extinction-level event which took place near the end of the Mesozoic, in the period known as the Cretaceous, in which a huge asteroid, which carried a Precursor Marker inside of it, slammed into the planet. While the resulting nuclear winter killed much of the planet's biosphere, some species of dinosaurs survived. Thanks to the intervention of several mysterious spacefaring species, individuals from two different groups of now-extinct dinosaurs survived the end of the Mesozoic, eventually developing into the Voth and the Clan Ru, respectively. The other remaining groups of dinosaurs which survived past the Mesozoic eventually became Earth's bird species. Despite the apocalyptic scale of death which followed the Cretaceous extinction event, life eventually recovered on the planet. The ancestors of all species of human are descended from primates which evolved on the continent of Africa. Around 10,000,000 BCE, the primate ancestor of both the Pak and the Isu resided on Earth, and was chosen by the Precursors as the next species destined to inherit the Mantle of Responsibility in the distant future. Feeling jealous and betrayed, the Forerunners, a species likewise seeded by the Leviathans, turned against the Precursors and destroyed most of them. From here, the hominid ancestors of the Pak and Isu races split off: the two races had both developed into a spacefaring civilization and began colonizing the Milky Way around 1,100,000 BCE. The ancestors of the Pak spread inward towards the galactic core, while the ancestors of the Isu spread outward across the Orion galactic arm into what is now known as the Alpha Quadrant. It is due to this early colonization that ruins identified as distinctly "human" have been discovered on multiple worlds besides Earth from forgotten eras of prehistory. The two great human civilizations underwent several periods of technological and social regression, losing most of their records in the process. Earth was one of the first Isu worlds to fall to the Forerunners in the Thousand Year War. After being defeated by the Forerunner civilization, most Isu were exiled to Earth, having lost control of their capitol world, the Precursor planet of Charum Hakkor, due to their military defeat. Some Isu and other human subspecies, such as the Neanderthals and the Denisovans, were taken by the Forerunners to various worlds and installations under their control for a variety of purposes, including slavery and scientific experimentation. The Pak, despite their genetic ties to the other human species, made a deal with the Forerunners in return for granting access to trade routes in the Core region. With their civilization dismantled, populations splintered among the many human species and their culture degraded back to a primitive state for millennia. Earth and humanity came under the charge of the Forerunner Lifeshaper, the Librarian, who helped the humans slowly work towards rebuilding a primitive civilization. Remnants of their former technology, such as steam power and hot-air balloon flight, were re-learned under her care but later forgotten after the firing of the Halo Array in 97,445 BCE. Forerunner-Flood War moments before the Halo effect reached Earth. ]] Near the end of their war with the Flood, the Forerunners, specifically the Lifeworkers, indexed many of Earth's species - including all of the human genus - as a part of their Conservation Measure to preserve life in the galaxy after the activation of the Halo Array. Prior to the activation, after surveying the planet, beacons were activated informing humans imprinted with the Librarian's geas to gather to evacuate the planet. Lifeworkers only had time to evacuate one out of a thousand of the planet's large species; countless species would be left behind. Several days into the evacuation the Librarian and IsoDidact arrived in the system to speak with Catalog. The evacuation was halted ahead of schedule as the Flood had broken through the local Forerunner defenses and were entering the system. After the Ur-Didact composed most of the human population on Omega Halo, the Librarian realized the remaining population would not be enough to repopulate the species. She sent Chant-to-Green to see how much the Flood had taken in the system and save whatever humans she could. The Flood had left Earth untouched after the Forerunners evacuated. Chant was only able to gather a few hundred humans to send to Installation 00. When Precursor star roads began to appear in the system, she told Chant she would stay on Earth and gave Chant the title of Lifeshaper. Later, a Gargantua-class transport arrived to be disassembled and reconfigured, and after gathering the necessary materials, formed a portal to the Lesser Ark. After the Array's activation, the Isu, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Florians, as well as other preserved lifeforms, were planted back on Earth, where they successfully re-developed. The Pak, despite evolving on Earth, were reinstated on their adopted homeworld of Orum in the Deep Core, for the sake of . However, over the course of the next 100 thousand years, many of the human species would go extinct, either naturally or due to infighting. Isu civilization The Isu quickly rose to dominance among the many species of humans left to redevelop in the post-Array era. Rediscovering many of the long-lost secrets that the Forerunners and their own ancestors had left behind on the world, the Isu quickly developed an extremely advanced Tier 4 civilization. In less than 20,000 years, they were already participating in low-end terraforming and stellar engineering. They possessed a talent for ecological manipulation, atomic power, and genetics. However, their populations refused to grow at a pace on par with their technology, and the power of quick and efficient space traveled also remained lost on them. Modifying their own genome to enable near-infinite lifespans, as well as the engineering of an artificial sixth sense, the Isu grew in their physical knowledge, but became cruel and decadent. They created the artifacts known as the Pieces of Eden, as well as a new species of human designated homo sapiens sapiens, as a domestic work force to maintain their civilization. Homo sapiens themselves were derived from the Isu's own genome, which would lead to unforeseen consequences in the future. They genetically altered several human species to make them more docile to the Pieces of Eden. However, apart from these manipulations, the new humans remained very similar to the Isu, the only differences being the height and the size of the skull. With early humans unable to comprehend the Isu for what they truly were, they came to be revered as deities. .]] Following a rebellion led by the homo sapien-Isu hybrid Eve, a war broke out between the Isu and their human slaves. This decade long war, coupled with the onset of what would be referred to as the "Toba catastrophe", would see the Isu gradually decline, and ultimately fall extinct. Despite this, their legacy would live on for thousands of years in various myths and legends, becoming the basis of many human religious ideals. Some of their Pieces of Eden managed to survive the catastrophe, and became a pivotal desire for both the Order of the Knights Templar and the Assassin Brotherhood, who waged a war of their own for the Pieces for most of the first two millenniums of the Common Era. Rise of humanity After the disastrous Toba catastrophe brought an end to most of the Isu civilization in 75,000 BCE, the remaining survivors, both human and Isu alike, were forced to work together to survive. With the extinction of the Isu, humanity, homo sapiens, stood as the last extant member of the genus Human. Beginning just as their creators did as hunter-gatherers, the species struggled on for seventy thousand years, until civilizations began to form anew. With the rise of these new civilizations, various powers sought to enslave and supress humanity as the Isu had done long ago, utilizing the Pieces of Eden and the unique effect they had on humans to do so. These efforts would be eventually be centralized under the Order of the Knights Templar. They were fought by the Assassin Brotherhood, who sought to keep humanity free from tyranny. , in 1969 CE. ]] By the year 1914 CE, much of the world was divided into two factions, the Triple Entente, or Allies: the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and later the United States of America, and the Triple Alliance, or Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and other nations of similar ideals. The Templars were behind both factions, using the global war in order to advance their own agenda. The Central Powers were defeated at the end of World War I in 1918 CE, resulting in a decade of prosperity for the Allies, followed by an economic depression and the rise of fascism, Nazism, and Communism in many countries. In 1939 CE, another World War erupted, between the Allies (Britain, the Soviet Union, later the United States, and many other nations) and the Axis (Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and the Empire of Japan). In 1945 CE, the Allies defeated the Axis. Later that year, the victorious nations, in an attempt to prevent future World Wars, founded the United Nations, an international assembly of peaceful nations, whose goal was to settle international disputes peacefully, and was the predecessor to the Unified Earth Government. In 1957 CE, humanity finally made their way into space with unmanned probes and by 1961 CE, humans themselves had gone into space. In 1969 CE, humanity had finally stepped on an extraterrestrial surface - Earth's moon, Luna. After World War II, humanity would avoid fighting wars on that scale for a time, although smaller wars and conflicts erupted, including the Korean War, Vietnam War, First Cold War, and the first and second Iraq Wars. In the early 21st century, terrorism became a particular thorn in the side for the nations on Earth and small wars broke out along with civil unrest in many countries. However, no full wars on the same scale as past World Wars erupted until a full century later. Ecological changes In response to the increasing use of fossil fuels throughout the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, Earth's environment began to change rather rapidly. A thinning of the ozone layer in the late 20th and early 21st centuries also grew cause for concern, although the use of certain industrial chemicals was seen to be the cause, and this was quickly corrected. The effects of global warming, however, were no as easily corrected, as so many other species would find when their homeworlds began warming up. By the year 2010 CE, the Earth's polar ice caps had begun to melt rapidly, leaving the fates of several species which inhabited them uncertain. In tandem, global sea levels also began to rise, along with the incidences of extreme weather such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and cyclones. Species went extinct on levels unprecedented since the planet's earlier stages of development. The effects of global warming would continue to increase, growing so dire in the later half of the 21st century so as to spur interest in off-world colonization. Global warming would only be corrected with the invention of terraforming technology further on in humanity's development. World War III World War III escalated for many decades. It was preceded by the Second Cold War of the 2020s and the Eugenics Wars of the 2030s. During the Eugenics Wars, many nations, often backed or manipulated by members of the Templars, began to exterminate populations who were seen as genetically weak or inferior. Oil and water shortages in many nations also raised global tensions; ever since humanity's development of atomic weaponry at the end of the Second World War, the threat of nuclear annihilation had always hung over Earth's collective head. By the middle of the 21st century, these tensions were higher than they had been even during the First Cold War. , nuclear weapons were used without restraint. ]] A radical group within the Templars, a terrorist group known as the Inner Circle, sought to bring apocalyptic ruin to the Earth's nations in order to rule what was left of it after the impending global war. They used various Pieces of Eden, as well as the already noxious political climate of the mid 21st century, to assist them in turning the planet into a cinder. In 2076 CE, World War III truly began with a joint invasion of the continental United States, heavily weakened due to widespread starvation, poverty, and shortage of fuel, by the desperate alliance of China and Russia, both nations being a part of the Eastern Coalition. The World Republic Federation, an alliance of western countries, largely European, came to America's defense. In 2077 CE, the day that was feared by all came to pass: nuclear bombardments of hundreds of cities began in tandem on October 23, 2077 CE. A global cease-fire was signed a week later in Paris. Billions of lives were lost, and the Earth was in ruin. However, from the ashes of the old world, a new one would emerge. Further environmental impact The effects of hundreds of massive nuclear explosions in-atmosphere drastically affected Earth's already-failing ecology. Massive firestorms swept across continents. Radiation scarred the landscape and poisoned many areas for millennia to come. Populations in major urban centers even took shelter underground for many decades. Acid-rain and radiation sickness decimated those that survived. Several species of wildlife went extinct. A nuclear winter lingered over several areas of the planet hit particularly hard during World War III for several years after the cataclysm. The push to rebuild after the destruction was a major driver in many of the technologies that would lead to the development of terraforming. Interplanetary colonization and conflicts In order to bring order to the world after the devastating events of the Third World War, the United Nations, largely abandoned during the decades preceding the war, was reorganized into the Greater United Nations in 2079 CE. In addition, the governments of the world united under the UN to form the Unified Earth Government in 2080 CE, a peacekeeping force that was also recognized as the official planetary government of the planet Earth going forward. While the next few decades after the war focused on rebuilding, a new focus on expansion into space was found once the human population had recovered. Initial expansion into the Sol system began with colonization of Mars, Luna, and the moons of Jupiter. Soon after, a slow growth into the rest of Earth's solar system began, colonizing much of the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. By 2130 CE, and after decades of peace, humanity had finally begun to truly prosper, now a multi-planet species. However, expansion did not come without problems. Humans on Earth, growing decadent and greedy, all too similar to the Isu who created them, fought against any attempts by the other colonies to gain independence. A few of these efforts were successful; others were crushed under the might of the powerful UEG. In the mid-22nd century, two major dissident factions emerged; the neo-communist Koslovics and fascist Frieden, which began to battle one another and the United Nations. and SDF forces clash during the Interplanetary War. ]] In March 2160 CE, Jovian Frieden secessionists attacked United Nations Colonial Advisors on the moon Io, which led to three months of fighting between the Earth military and Jovian Frieden forces. National governments began to support their own colonies which sparked proxy wars off-planet, leading to tension and militarization on Earth. In 2162 CE, armed conflict ripped through South America, starting the Rain Forest Wars, as Koslovic, Frieden, and UN forces all clashed over ideological differences, sparking additional conflicts off-planet. In December of 2163 CE, the three factions clashed, this time on Mars. This was the first extraterrestrial use of UEG Marines, who launched lightning raids on Koslovic positions, permanently affecting military doctrine for centuries. In 2164 CE, UN forces began a massive military build-up and began the first true interplanetary war. The forces of the fledgling UEG were significantly bolstered by a massive propaganda campaign running on the victories on Mars and over the next six years fought the Settlement Defense Force, a powerful rival faction which had formed in opposition to the UN. Gradually, the UN took back the Sol system and drove the dissident factions to destruction. Now with a massive military with no enemy to fight, overpopulation, famine, and a collapsing economy, Earth faced an uncertain future. Domus Diaspora Expansion into other star systems began around the later half of the 22nd century. Without any form of faster-than-light travel, humanity was forced to rely initially on generation ships, and eventually on stasis ships, after the invention of extended hibernation. Expeditions reached nearby systems decades after their launches. The creation of generation ships was born largely out of greed rather than necessity. Children were born, lived, and died on these ships, many of which were sponsored by greedy corporations for whom the safety of their crew was not the highest priority. Some of these ships never even reached their targets, or reached their destinations decades after the invention of faster-than-light travel, finding their "new frontiers" already inhabited by people. Hibernation, too, had its drawbacks; while in-theory extremely reliable, sometimes a pod would malfunction and opened many decades too early, dooming the unfortunate occupant to live out the rest of their life alone on the ship. and Fujikawa receiving the Nobel Prize for their work on the Translight Engine. ]] Several conflicts arose during this generally-peaceful period of time. In the Alpha Centauri system, humanity would make first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, the Na'vi of Pandora. The closest star system to Earth, Alpha Centauri would grow in importance when the Templar planet-nation of Helghan declared independence from Earth, sparking the first First and Second Extrasolar Wars. However, peace came again with the invention of new, game-changing technologies. In 2291 CE, Wallace Fujikawa and Tobias Shaw invented the Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace engine, the first form of faster-than-light travel invented by mankind. This new discovery would usher in several new decades of peace, which facilitated humanity's further expansion throughout the stars. This would lead to the eventual colonization of over 800 colonies by the end of the 25th century. With reliable terraforming technology now available, the effects of global warming, as well as many of the scars of World War III, could now be corrected and many species which went extinct could be brought back through cloning. The Insurrection and the Human-Covenant War After the Domus Diaspora had begun, humanity would enter a period of relatively peaceful stability amongst itself for the next two hundred years, until civil unrest began to spread in the Outer Colonies, with various groups seeking secession from Earth and the UEG. The scale of the unrest would steadily rise, soon becoming a major threat to the UEG's existence. This provoked the UEG's military branch, the United Nations Space Command, to respond. The UNSC initiated the ORION Project and later the SPARTAN-II program in order to create powerful shock troops to quell the escalating Insurrection. All this was suddenly and violently rendered a moot point when a single alien ship made an unprovoked attack on the colony world of Harvest; humanity's first encounter with a hostile alien civilization more technologically advanced than themselves - the radical religious theocracy known as the Covenant Empire. The Covenant Hierarchs, fueled by the fanatical belief that humanity's ancient connection to the Forerunners made them an affront to their own apocalyptic beliefs, sought to exterminate them, intending to keep only a small population alive in order to enslave them for their own means. . ]] Over the next twenty-seven years, humanity would wage a brutal war for survival, losing hundreds of colonies, including virtually all of the Outer Colonies in 2536 CE; and on August 31st, 2552 CE, the UNSC's largest military installation, the planet Reach, was overtaken and glassed by the Covenant. During the entire course of the conflict, the UNSC followed the Cole Protocol, which declared that no UNSC vessel targeted by the Covenant was to retreat to Earth, as a means of ensuring the secrecy and security of the planet's location. In nearly twenty-seven years of galactic warfare, the Covenant never succeeded in determining the location of Earth through the measures taken under the Cole Protocol. However, by September, 2552 CE, Earth was humanity's last major stronghold in its war against the Covenant. Despite the effectiveness of this law, on October 20th, 2552 CE, the Covenant launched their first attack upon Earth, rendering the Cole Protocol moot and initiating the final confrontation between UNSC forces and the Covenant. First Battle of Earth rages above the planet in 2552 CE, having finally been discovered by the Covenant after nearly thirty years of warfare.]] Prior to the Covenant invasion of Earth, there had been a suppressed influx of information by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the UNSC's intelligence branch, in order to avoid widespread panic. Ironically, this suppression of information, which was thought to increase moral by disguising how dire the war was going for humanity, actually ended up doing more harm than good by resulting in various planets being unprepared when the Covenant did finally arrive. The forces stationed at Earth were heavy, with the Second Fleet, Seventh Fleet, the Sixteenth Fleet and the 6th Battle Group along with large amounts of Marines, Army Troopers, and ODSTs present, five SPARTAN-IIs, Admiral Terrence Hood and Earth's most prominent means of defense, three hundred Orbital Defense Platforms, each sporting a Mk. V "Super" MAC. Also, there were numerous human colonies on various moons, a large naval shipyard and factories at Mars, and a listening post at Io. arriving shortly after Regret's departure and excavating around New Mombasa.]] On October 20th, 2552 CE, the first Covenant forces entered the Sol system. A Covenant expeditionary force consisting of battlecruisers and assault carriers arrived in system, first detected around Io, the third largest moon of Jupiter. After the existence of the Covenant presence was confirmed by probes, the UNSC forces went to full alert. The option was taken to wait for the Covenant forces to come to them rather than let Fleet Admiral Harper launch a counter attack. The Covenant began to work on punching a hole through the orbital defenses by taking out the stations in the battle cluster above the Mediterranean Sea via bombs planted by boarding parties. After the Covenant fleet attempted to rush through the newly formed gap the UNSC fleet annihilated them, destroying most of the Covenant battlecruisers but failing to destroy the assault carriers. One of the assault carriers was successfully destroyed by SPARTAN-II John-117 but the other, commanded by the High Prophet of Regret assaulted the city of New Mombasa in Kenya. Groundside, the Covenant assault carrier had already deployed its ground forces and occupied the city. The Covenant ground forces immediately constructed defense emplacements and structures to reinforce their newly-acquired sites against the counter-offensive UNSC forces. The [[UNSC In Amber Clad|UNSC In Amber Clad]] was the first UNSC ship to respond to the Covenant occupation. The ship sent in their complements consisting of SPARTAN-II John-117, Sergeant Avery Johnson and elements of the 7th Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Battalion. The Covenant were subsequently dislodged from Old Mombasa and, following the destruction of a Scarab, from New Mombasa as well. The High Prophet of Regret eventually ordered a general retreat and had his assault carrier initiate a slipspace jump while still over the city. The In Amber Clad followed in the carrier's wake, while the city was left heavily-irradiated and in chaos. Prior to the slipspace event, a contingent of ODSTs were dropped from the [[UNSC Say My Name|UNSC Say My Name]] to assist the In Amber Clad's counter-offensive efforts. The slipspace rupture prevented the assist from taking place, plunging the ODSTs into uncontrolled freefall and scattered across the city. However, one particular squad of ODSTs survived and continued their operation in securing the city's infrastructure AI, the Superintendent. During the operation, the squad witnessed the arrival of a larger Covenant fleet after escaping the city. .]] The Covenant returned in force following the Prophet of Regret's abortive attack and Covenant assault forces succeeded in penetrating the orbital defenses. At Mount Erebus, the sea floor off of the the Yucatan Peninsula, and at the Centennial Orbital Elevator in Havana, Cuba, the Covenant were stymied by the three SPARTAN-IIs of Blue Team, who were re-deployed to Onyx soon after. The Covenant deployed their forces all across Earth, striking at major cities such as Cleveland, Ohio; but this attack too was repulsed through the efforts of ODST forces and the self-sacrifice of Colonel James Ackerson. The Covenant also attacked Sydney, home of the UNSC Headquarters, HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6. Fortunately, despite the enormous damage inflicted on the city, the UNSC HQ survived completely unharmed, owing to its underground facilities. However, UNSC forces were unable to repulse and route Covenant landings in Kenya. After breaking Earth's space defenses, the Covenant bombarded Earth in Eastern Africa. The Covenant eventually succeeded in eradicating New Mombasa and uncovering their primary target: The Voi Portal. The re-arrival in-system of John-117 in a Covenant-controlled Forerunner Dreadnought, freshly escaped from the Battle of Installation 05, was unexpected. John-117 disembarked from the dreadnought in Earth's atmosphere, later recovered by Marines and taken to Crow's Nest. With the aid of the Arbiter, Commander Miranda Keyes, and Sergeant Avery Johnson, John-117 breached the Covenant anti-air defenses near the excavated artifact, clearing the way for an aerial strike on the Dreadnought powering it. The strike was unable to disable the device or prevent the Prophet of Truth from traveling through the portal. After a brief intervention by the Flood a joint Sangheili/human force departed through the portal in pursuit. This series of events saw the complete departure of the Covenant from Earth as they ventured forth to Installation 00, where they would finally be crushed by the UNSC and their Covenant separatist allies. Post-Human-Covenant War period undergoing a refit in a naval yard above Earth.]] Following the victory at the First Battle of Earth and the Battle of Installation 00, the Human-Covenant War officially came to an end in March of 2553 CE. Many of Earth's cities were left in ruins and the planet's population was sharply reduced as a result of the Covenant invasion. With the war's end, the UEG began to rebuild from the extensive damage inflicted upon the planet's infrastructure and human population. Planetary governance was formally transferred back to the UEG from the UNSC. Only two years after the end of the war, Earth faced yet another invasion, this time led not by a hostile alien hegemony, but a Forerunner ancilla, 000 Tragic Solitude, the monitor of Installation 00. As a means to repair the Ark and to get revenge on humans for damaging it, the monitor tricked the UNSC into opening the portal which allowed him to send thousands of Retriever Sentinels to mine Earth for raw resources. The sentinels were engaged by the Home Fleet, which lost at least ten ships in the ensuing battle. Tragic Solitude's plans were thwarted by a joint UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios team on the Ark itself. In the postwar rebuilding period, Earth saw an influx of asylum seekers from the remnants of the Covenant. The admittance of such alien races fueled a security crisis on Earth and UEG authorities were tasked with preventing violent dissidents among these alien refugees from carrying out attacks against the human population. One such incident was a foiled threat of nuclear bombing in Rio de Janeiro. The Didact's attack flagship fires the Composer on New Phoenix in 2557 CE.]] In July 2557 CE, the Forerunner known as the Didact arrived in-system aboard his flagship, the Mantle's Approach, planning to use a device known as the Composer to enslave humanity as revenge for the ancient human's actions against him in the Thousand Year War. Having been forewarned by Captain Thomas Lasky of the [[UNSC Infinity|UNSC Infinity]], the UNSC Home Fleet was ready and led by the Infinity, engaged Mantle's Approach. Meanwhile, Master Chief John-117 had stowed aboard the Mantle's Approach and with help from the Infinity, boarded the ship. Before the Master Chief could stop the Didact, the Composer began to fire on New Phoenix, Arizona, digitizing its entire population. John-117 eventually destroyed the ship with a nuclear device, ending the threat of the Didact and the Composer for the time being. Rise of the Created In 2558 CE, the AI Cortana reemerged as the self-proclaimed leader of the Created, a collective alliance of human and Forerunner AI constructs whose aim was to enforce the Mantle of Responsibility by bringing the entire galaxy under the control of AIs. This plan called for several Guardians to be deployed across the galaxy to systematically disable all technology across human space. One such Guardian was deployed to Earth, prompting the intervention of the UNSC Home Fleet led by the UNSC Infinity. Unfortunately, the Guardian proved too powerful for even the Infinity and the vessel was forced to abandon Earth for deep space. All technology on Earth and all vessels in the Home Fleet were then disabled by the Guardian, bringing humanity's homeworld under Cortana's control as the UNSC scrambled to find a solution to the invasion. Starfleet era Xindi crisis After the formation of Starfleet, Earth became subject to several attacks due to its significance as humanity's homeworld. In 2753 CE, Earth was preemptively attacked by the Xindi, who were unwittingly helping a faction fighting the Temporal Cold War. Using a smaller, prototype version of the planned Xindi weapon, the weapon destroyed a section of the planet stretching from Florida to Venezuela, killing seven million people. This event began what was later known as the Xindi crisis. On February 14th of 2754 CE, a working version of the Xindi weapon entered Earth orbit to destroy the planet. The weapon was destroyed by Captain Jonathan Archer before it could complete its task. This marked the end of the Xindi crisis. Enterprise incidents In the 2870s, a massive machine lifeform called V'ger threatened to destroy all biological life on Earth, if its demands were not met. The attack was narrowly averted by the crew of the [[USS Enterprise|USS Enterprise]]. In 2886 CE, an alien probe of unknown origin wreaked ecological havoc while trying to contact an extinct species of humpback whale by transmitting massive amounts of energy into Earth's oceans and unintentionally caused them to begin evaporating. The threat was ended when the former crew of the USS Enterprise, having used a stolen Klingon Bird-of-Prey to travel back in time to before the species' extinction, returned to the present with two humpbacks; after the two whales gave a response to the probe, it departed the Sol system with little, if any, real harm done to the planet. In 2967 CE, a Borg cube entered Earth orbit following the Battle of Wolf 359 with the intention of assimilating the planet and its population. It was destroyed by the [[USS Enterprise-D|USS Enterprise-D]] before it could attack the planet. Second Battle of Earth In 2973 CE, a second Borg cube attacked Earth and, after a devastating battle, was destroyed in orbit by a Starfleet armada. As the cube exploded, a Borg sphere escaped from within the craft and subsequently traveled into the past, where its complement of Borg drones attempted to prevent humanity's first contact with Vulcans in 2663 CE. In 2975 CE, the Borg decided to create another strategy, since all direct assaults on Earth had failed, thus far. They planned to detonate a biogenic charge in Earth's atmosphere, infecting all lifeforms with nanoprobe viruses, triggering a gradual assimilation. According to the Borg Queen, half the population would be drones before the effects were discovered. Later Enterprise incidents Also in 2975 CE, the Breen Confederacy attacked Earth in a surprise attack on Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco during the Dominion War. In 2979 CE, Praetor Shinzon attempted to destroy all life on Earth using a thalaron weapon built into the Reman warbird Scimitar. The Scimitar was destroyed by the [[USS Enterprise-E|USS Enterprise-E]], Valdore, and an unidentified Valdore-type warbird in the Battle of the Bassen Rift. Government . |left]] Earth was governed, along with the rest of humanity, under the Unified Earth Government. The UEG was in practice a federation-democracy, being composed of Earth's many ancient nation-states whom all possessed unique authority within the federal union. This system was not wholly unlike the organization of the United States of America, wherein individual states possessed a reasonable amount of autonomy but still answered to the nation as a whole. When humans began colonizing other planets, these planets and any nation-states which arose on them were given authority in the UEG. This was not always the case, however, as early in humanity's space colonization individual nations and even corporations claimed ownership to entire planets. After many conflicts flared up due to this, the governmental structure of Earth and its nations was eventually expanded to include all of human activity. With the establishment of the United Federation of Planets, the UEG took a backseat in interstellar affairs while still maintaining authority over Earth itself. Category:Planets Category:Type 1 atmosphere planets Category:Inhabited planets Category:Sol system Category:Sol sector Category:Temperate climate planets Category:Human planets Category:Federation planets Category:Milky Way planets